Ruty left the artillery school at Châlons a second lieutenant, on 6 October 1793. He was eighteen, and the country was fighting on every one of its frontiers. Risen to lieutenant-general, he fought the great campaigns of the Empire, then the Restoration heaped titles on him: councillor of state, peer of France, Commander of the Order of Saint-Louis. Of the six titles carved here, not one recalls the boy of eighteen who began it all.
The story
On 6 October 1793 Charles Ruty left the artillery school of Châlons as a second lieutenant. He was eighteen, and France was at war on every frontier.
Born at Besançon on 4 November 1774, Charles Étienne François Ruty fought the great campaigns of the First Empire and designed in 1808 a field howitzer that was given his name. A lieutenant general of artillery, he was made baron and then count of the Empire.
The Restoration heaped honours on him: peer of France, councillor of State, grand officer of the Légion d'honneur, commander of the Order of Saint-Louis. He died in Paris on 24 April 1828.
His grave in Division 38, carved by Guillard, lines up the six titles before giving the two towns and the two dates. Nothing of the eighteen-year-old second lieutenant who began it all.
The grave
A grave sculpted by Guillard, whose inscription is a complete record of service: “Charles Etienne François, comte RUTY, lieutenant général d'artillerie, pair de France conseiller d'état, grand officier de la légion d'honneur, commandeur de l'ordre de St Louis, né à Besançon le 4 novembre 1774, mort à Paris le 24 avril 1828.” — Charles Étienne François, Count Ruty, lieutenant-general of artillery, peer of France, councillor of state, Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour, Commander of the Order of Saint-Louis, born in Besançon on 4 November 1774, died in Paris on 24 April 1828. Six titles, two cities, two dates — and nothing of the second lieutenant of eighteen who left the school at Châlons in the midst of the Terror.
On site, do not miss
A grave sculpted by Guillard. The inscription lines up six titles — down to “commandeur de l'ordre de St Louis”, Commander of the Order of Saint-Louis — before Besançon and Paris, the birth and the death.
Visitors' questions
Where is General Ruty's grave?
In Division 38, chemin Suchet, first row. The grave was carved by Guillard, and the inscription lists six titles — from the artillery to the peerage — with the places and dates of his birth and of his death.
Guillaume DupuytrenWhat training did he have?
The artillery school at Châlons, which he left a second lieutenant on 6 October 1793, at eighteen. Before that he had been a brilliant student at Besançon, the town where he was born.
Augustin d’AbovilleWhat titles did he hold?
Six, all of them carved: lieutenant-general of artillery, peer of France, councillor of state, grand officer of the Legion of Honour, commander of the Order of Saint Louis — the sum of a career served under two regimes.
Marshal VictorDid he serve under the Empire?
He did: as lieutenant-general of artillery he took part in the great campaigns of the First Empire, before the Restoration made him a peer of France and a councillor of state. He died in Paris in April 1828.
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